The present invention relates generally to safety devices for use with ladders and more particularly to a ladder shield for use in preventing toddlers and the like from climbing the steps of a ladder, such as a ladder in an above-ground swimming pool, when the ladder or the device to which the ladder is coupled is unattended.
Over the past twenty or thirty years, swimming pools have become a very popular addition to homes throughout the country. These pools are generally of two types, namely, above-ground and in-ground pools. In the above-ground pools, access to the pool is achieved by climbing a ladder which is either fastened directly to the sides of the pool or to a deck structure located next to and above the pool. Although in-ground pools do not require a ladder to access the pool since the pool is at about ground level, users of this type of pool very often procure some type of slide device which also includes a ladder to enable a person to get to the top of the slide.
As can be appreciated, one of the major safety problems with swimming pools is in children, especially toddlers, accessing the pool on an unauthorized basis when the pool is unattended by simply climbing the steps of the ladder.
One way that people have attempted to solve this problem in the past has been to build a fence around the ladder. However, this is a rather costly solution to the problem and is only satisfactory if the fence is always locked shut when the swimming pool is not intended to be used.
Another solution has been to use a pool deck that is equipped with a pivotally mounted ladder that is normally raised but which may be lowered for use. The problems with this type of pool deck are that they are fairly expensive and that they will not eliminate the problem if the user does not raise the ladder when unauthorized or unsupervised use is to be prevented.
Still another approach has been to use a ladder that is constructed to have a set of removable steps. The main problem to this approach is that it is not useable on existing ladders but rather requires replacing the existing ladder.
Yet still another solution has been to simply remove the ladder when not being used. As can be appreciated, this solution is very impractical and time-consuming.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a device for restricting unauthorized access to the steps of a ladder, such as a ladder in a swimming pool.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device as described above which is universally adaptable for use on most all ladders.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a device as described above which is easy and economical to manufacture and easy to install and use.
It is yet still another object of this invention to provide a device as described above which has utility even when not being used as a ladder shield on a ladder.